D.A.R.E. gets duped by anti-pot satire

D.A.R.E. gets duped by anti-pot satire

Everyone remember D.A.R.E. the government ran anti-drug propaganda program that sends officers into schools to lie about drugs in the hopes of keeping kids from using them? Well it looks like D.A.R.E. just got a taste of its own medicine by rereporting a satirical news piece like it was real news.

"Marijuana candies, sold on the street as ‘Uncle Tweety’s Chewy Flipper’ and ‘Gummy Satans’ are taking the country by storm." That's the breathless opening sentence of a news story posted on the website of D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), the infamous anti-drug organization that sends police into schools to teach kids about the dangers of drug use.

After I called to inquire about it, D.A.R.E. removed the story immediately without commenting. But it's been preserved at the Internet Archive, and I've screenshotted it in full below. "It is sad that in a country as developed as America, such third world drugs such as marijuana are allowed to exist," the story's anonymous author wrote. "Children are being addicted to marijuana. I knew this day would come, when a liberal president allowed a state to legally sell Marijuana Flintstone Vitamins to children."

The claims in the original article are outright ridiculous and makes it all the more funny that D.A.R.E. reposted it word for word.

"Marijuana. It is one of the most dangerous drugs on Earth," the author concludes ominously. "For every one joint of marijuana, four teenagers become burdened with pregnancy."

HAHAHAHAHA!

Poor D.A.R.E., everyone has grown wise to your tactics and in your desperation you latched onto any article you could to show the "evils" of marijuana. This really highlights that D.A.R.E. isn't an education program (despite education being what the E stands for in D.A.R.E.) but a propaganda program.

D.A.R.E. still receives funding from the Justice Department, the Department of State and numerous other government agencies and corporations.

For the past month, that funding has been used to spread the message that marijuana is a "third world drug" that causes teen pregnancies and leads to "primal aggression," and to promote demonstrably false claims about people killed by marijuana edibles.

I think we just found some government pork we can cut in the federal budget.

Sometimes I'm lost for words...

This is one of those times...


Nevertheless, a picture is worth a thousand!

Luckily, I'm old enough to have escaped most of the DARE stuff in school. My little brother, on the other hand, got the full treatment. He still allows that all the DARE program did for him and his buddies is teach them how to do drugs better and smarter with less chance of getting caught by the parents.

I will never forget the day my mom walked in on him in the bathroom, only to find him at the sink trying to pour Tabasco sauce into his eyes. My mom asked him WTH he thought he was doing and he said "The DARE lady at school today said if we want to know what pepper spray feels like, just to put hot sauce in our eyes."

My mom about stroked out over that one.

This program SO needs to be de-funded. I think it hurts more than it helps. And what the heck kind of "officer" tells kids to go home and pour hot sauce into their eyes??? Lawsuit, much???

Edit: The story in the OP is hilarious...although it is also a bit scary to me, considering these morons are probably being let into my child's school to "educate" the kids. Total government FAIL.

If I had a kid in school and these D.A.R.E. people were coming to talk to the kids that day I would hold my kid out.

This is just more insanity from those who know not about what they are speaking. Getting spoofed by this article shows immense stupidity.

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

I'm just young enough that I got the tail end of it and not so much the full brunt of it. It was mostly during elementary school that I got my dose of brainwashing. Then all it took was one stoner in middle school to blow all the propaganda they taught me up. We were discussing the dangers of marijuana and I said that marijuana was bad for you. He asked one simple question, "How?" and I was lost for an answer. In all that propaganda I was told, I could not think of one solid reason why marijuana was bad for you, just that I had always been told that it was.

I think that was by far my first experience recognizing propaganda for what it was. I may not have realized at the time that that was what I was doing, but I remember the incident VERY well.

A funny thing about D.A.R.E. is that one of their messages were that all the cool kids were doing it and you just had to rise above them. More like, "uh... wait... The cool kids are doing them? Well now I know what I need to do to be cool!" Perfect example of adults not understanding the teenage mind.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I remember my 5th grade DARE presentation. It went something like this:

A reefer madness lecture about the dangers of marijauna

Then he passed around something to show us the smell of marijauna

Then asked if anyone had ever smelled that in their home...

DARE Scare: Turning Children into Informants

a reply to: HighFive

Looks like someone was fishing for some arrests to make after leaving the school.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

You are absolutely right. They have no idea how kids' minds and reasoning works at all. This is how my brother explained it to us as well.

He said that they explained the effects of each drug and what it will make you feel, how a person consuming said drug will behave and how the person will appear to other sober people. So the kids had an edge from that information - they knew how to appear, how to act normal and how to hide their drug use. And it worked, too. By the time we knew he had a problem (not mj, but narcotic pain medicine), he was totally hooked.

So basically the DARE officers and programs made the situation worse by aiding and abetting (unwittingly, perhaps) drug use in these kids.

No bueno...

Lmao this shows how desperate they are to demonize marijuana in any way possible. It's like those people who repost an Onion article thinking it's real because it confirms their absurd beliefs, and they can't even see that the article is obviously satire because they actually believe in the sensationalist nonsense it says.

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

It's funny how if programs like D.A.R.E. would just tell the TRUTH they'd probably have FAR more positive effect than lying their asses off about the drugs. The way they made things like coc aine or heroin seem is that it just takes one use and you are hooked for life and one step from living in the gutters. All it takes is one use to dispel that myth. Once one lie is exposed, it starts putting doubts on everything else they are saying, and just about everything they say about ANY drug is trumped up hyperbole.

Kids aren't stupid and they don't like being lied to. They are also the demographic MOST likely to act out when having exposed the lies for what they are.

I remember they pulled out a case with 5 joints and below it 100 cigarettes. They were trying to tell us that 5 joints was like smoking five packs of cigarettes. The only thing we took away was wondering if the five joints were real.

A lot of these programs get federal, state and local money -- and are allowed to push a biased agenda.

I did *intense* research into second hand smoke for a debate years ago, and came to discover that the anti-smoking programs receive a TON of money, are bloated, and push just as much junk science as the tobacco industry. A charcoal grill has more toxins than second hand smoke. Better watch where you stand at the BBQ this summer!

Besides, no one really wants smokers to quit cigarettes -- all that tax revenue would dry up!

LEFT SWYPE THAT!

originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher
If I had a kid in school and these D.A.R.E. people were coming to talk to the kids that day I would hold my kid out.

You know, now that you bring it up, I have no idea whether my kid is being exposed to this tripe or not. IF they are bringing in DARE officers to push their propaganda, they never send a letter home or let us know in any way. I think they should HAVE to notify parents so we can pull them out for the day. I would certainly keep him out of school if I knew in advance that they had set aside time during the school day for this brainwashing.

I'm sure they have some loophole that says they do not have to notify parents in advance that this is going to be happening at school.

"D.A.R.E -- We dare you to believe what we say!"

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

From what I recall from the DARE programs I attended in the early 90's they didn't let my parents know when we attended them. And as kids, we just celebrated any excuse not to be in class for a little while so didn't complain that we went either. We may have been given some handouts while at the assemblies though, but that would only alert an adult to them after the fact.

"Marijuana. It is one of the most dangerous drugs on Earth," the author concludes ominously. "For every one joint of marijuana, four teenagers become burdened with pregnancy."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA..oh man I needed a good laugh, maybe they should start screening Reefer Madness, too funny, pathetic really..why lie to get your message across, it takes away from real honest discussion.

originally posted by: vonclod
"Marijuana. It is one of the most dangerous drugs on Earth," the author concludes ominously. "For every one joint of marijuana, four teenagers become burdened with pregnancy."

You know, that's funny. I have been pregnant twice, and both times I got pregnant with the "help" of Johnny Walker Black Label. No MJ involved at all. Maybe they need to reevaluate their data

Edit: I misspoke. The first pregnancy was Southern Comfort. The second one was Johnny Walker...

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

They shoot themselves in the foot by lying, it's reasonable to discourage kids but who listens to a liar for too long.
Ack..Southern Comfort..lol, Im sure alcohol is the #1 rated pantie remover

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Pot leads to STD's. STD's Lead to communism. Communism leads to death. therefore Pot kills. In the meantime enjoy the smooth Virginia flavor of Cancer gold.

Smoking kills millions each year yet TPTB won't remove cigarettes for shopfronts because cancer sticks generate too much revenue. But Pot? evil.

Oh it gets better...or worse.

Gross...

A former D.A.R.E. officer is facing possible jail time over an alleged relationship with an underage girl.

The Rush County prosecutor filed charges against former Rushville Police Department D.A.R.E. Officer Cale Worley Friday, the Rushville Republican newspaper reports. Worley faces up to six years in jail on the charges of official misconduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Source

This guy gives bad cops a bad name.